Generally, an electrical connector includes a dielectric housing mounting a plurality of terminals for interconnecting electrical devices. The terminals typically have contact portions or ends and terminating portions or ends. The contact portions engage complementary contacts of a mating connector, for instance. The terminating portions may be terminated to electrical conductors or to circuit traces on a printed circuit board, for instance. In the latter instance, the terminating portions may comprise solder tails for insertion into holes in the printed circuit board to connect the tails to circuit traces on the board and/or in the holes. Still further, the solder tails may comprise compliant tails for establishing a press-fit within the board holes.
Various problems often are encountered in designing circuit board mounted connectors of the character described above. For instance, the terminals preferably are inserted into the connector housing to a precise depth. If the terminals have compliant terminal tails creating an interference fit within the board holes, positive stops must be provided on the housing to limit the depth of insertion of the terminals. Absent such positive stops, the interference fit of the compliant tails in the board holes will force the terminals further into the housing than is desired.
Various other problems are encountered in designing such electrical connectors, particularly in retaining the terminals within the connector housing. Typically, some type of retention means is provided between the terminals and the housing to prevent the terminals from backing out of the housing after insertion. For instance, terminals often are inserted into terminal-receiving passages in the housing with an interference or press-fit to hold the terminals in the passages. Other means such as barbs also are used to actually skive into the walls of the passages to lock the terminals therewithin.
A problem in retaining terminals within housing passages by an interference or press-fit is that the housing must have adequate supporting walls to accommodate these insertion forces. With the ever-increasing miniaturization of electrical connectors accompanied by resulting high density terminal arrays, it often is difficult to provide adequate supporting walls within the dielectric connector housing to absorb the forces desired. The present invention is directed to solving this myriad of problems with a unique terminal/housing structure which not only provides adequate means on the terminals for engagement by insertion tooling, and stop means on the housing to limit the depth of insertion of the terminals, but the terminals are retained within the housing without an interference fit with surrounding walls of the housing.